| Poster | Thread | hmmhmm
Member
Joined: 2006/1/31
Posts: 4994
Sweden
| | burned out | | i just feel so burned out... i dont have any energy to read the word... i do pray in my spirit and when im walking around doing things...but i dont find any peace to go in the quiet place and stay there. I dont have any energy to do anything,
i just got a job thats very physicly hard, i have a big family and many kids thats taking much of my time... so the little time i have left i im just so tiered, but i do try to take time but its like my mind isent there, i cant really focus on what i read, and when i pray i have the same problem focusing on what im doing.
this is really making me feel bad in some ways, please give me some advice if you have any, and if you dont please pray for me.
gods peace to you
christian
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CHRISTIAN
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|  2006/7/12 9:22 | Profile | roadsign
Member
Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777
| | Re: burned out | | Christian, I can relate to your troubles as I suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for 10 years and remember having similar experiences. I had four very needy children who had some serious health issues of their own. (I was healed about 8 years ago)
I trust that you are seeing a doctor and getting some tests done.
Regarding your inability to carry out your responsibilities: I can say with all my heart that God knows and respects our limitations. This may be a time when you learn that you need not rely on your own strength. You REST in him.
Regarding prayer: Sometimes the simplest prayers can be the most powerful: God help! That may be enough for today. Also, he can help you recall any biblical truths that you need at this time.
I trust that you have a social network church, relatives, or friends on whom you can draw for support for your family. And if not, I know that God can bring people to you at just the right times. When you are stronger, he may help you deal with any issues that might be surrounding the burn-out.
May God be your provider and your strength, and may he supply your familys needs physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And may he send many ministering angels.
The journey may get very tough, yet our awesome God is there to help.
Diane
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Diane
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| | 2006/7/12 9:57 | Profile | PaulWest
Member
Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas
| | Re: | | Christian, I can relate, dear brother. Subjugating the flesh is war. Real war. The world, flesh and the devil fight against the child of God every single day. There's no rest. Prayer (real, prevailing prayer, that is) is the hardest business in the world. Meditating on the Word is a chore too. Not every now-and-then meditation, mind you, but deep and daily meditation. It's so tough to read books like "Power Through Prayer" and the habits of men like Edwards and Fletcher, because it shows me my utter failure.
But the beauty is this: there is REST in the Lord. He waits till we come to our surrender, and then refreshes us. I used to watch the clock when I prayed. If I didn't clock in my daily 2 hours, I was a delinquent child, displeasing to God and useless as far as Kingdom work was concerned. What I didn't understand (note: I'm still learning, I still get exasperated, I still catch myself trying to "pump up" my devotions) is that God and God alone enables one for this lifestyle.
You see this problem infiltrating a lot of the Pentecostal prayer meetings and the TBN stuff - people trying to work something up (kind of like me in my prayer closet), instead of realizing that it must be sent. And if it's not sent by God, it's nothing but a flesh boost. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of flesh boosts! I want the real thing. And I believe the real thing comes by way of patiently trusting and obeying the voice of God's Spirit, constantly looking to Jesus Christ and surrendering all our devices and preconceptions of how God wants to work in our life (this is so very important).
Keep your life pure, brother. God will refresh you in due time. Maintain clean hands and a pure heart, stay humble and meek, allow God to separate you more and more from the world. Cry out to Jesus in your desperation and failure. He will come and reward your obedience in due season. Oswald Chambers went through a dry spell for two years with hardly any tangible contact with God. Two years without a fresh revelation. Two years without a fresh infilling. Man, I think I'd die! I can't go hardly two weeks without breaking down. But God measures our spiritual stature and integrity in Jesus by what we do during the "dry times."
Your servant in Christ, Brother Paul
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Paul Frederick West
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| | 2006/7/12 12:36 | Profile | BRudel
Member
Joined: 2006/3/12
Posts: 24
USA-West/mountain state
| | Re: burned out | | Hi Christian:
Praying for you. I know that this storm will pass for you, because it is God's faithfullness that gets us through, by His integrity are we continually fed, because He doesn't change, we are not already consumed.
Life in Christ is often like the seasons of the earth. It is Summer, things are vibrant, growing, verdant, productive. Fall comes and things tire and finallly wither. In winter, it is cold and lifeless and it seems as if nothing will ever be able to come of this lifelessness. But, spring does come and a new hope and a new vibrancy springs forth.
Trust the Lord for His guidance and His unmerited favor for you. In that you can lay back and relax for a while in His strong arms.
Take care,
-Brudel
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Bill Rudel
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| | 2006/7/12 13:41 | Profile |
| | Re: | | Hey brother,
Just read your post and had to let you know that your not alone. Don't be too hard on yourself, this will add to the stress that your already under. Most of the time I don't FEEL like reading my bible, but have learned that if I will do it regardless of how I feel, God will bless. These are the times when one word or one thought from the bible grows within my heart and sometimes I see more growth than when I sit down and devour whole chapters. If you have a little pocket new terstament you can take with you to work and just read a few verses from the MILK OF THE WORD, (Psalms, Prov.,I and II Tim. ect..) this will really help you more than trying to read through whole chapters. Read and pray regardless of how you FEEL and God will bless. Pray before you read the bible and after you read the bible. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal his truth to you.
J-bird :-D |
| | 2006/7/12 13:58 | | roadsign
Member
Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777
| | Re: Easy Now! | | Quote:
Read and pray regardless of how you FEEL and God will bless.
Before this becomes a 5-page thread for our friend who hasnt got the energy to read more than a few lines, Im going to intercept.
I remember during my down time when dear Christian friends suggested that I try harder, I forget about myself, I pray more, I read more Bible etc. And, being already overly sensitive and weakened, such suggestions were enough to almost push me over the edge. That just piled more guilt onto my existing pile of guilt for not measuring up as a good Christian. (God was stripping me of my trust in my efforts)
.. So, pardon my hypersensitivity right now.
Trust me, there are times when one literally CANNOT hold a bible, and ones mind cannot comprehend more than a short sentence if even that! It is not a symptom of slothfulness, but of incredible physical weakness and only God knows what else.
In times like these we who have strength must do the praying on behalf of the afflicted, while not making any demands on them.
Diane
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Diane
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| | 2006/7/12 14:55 | Profile |
| | Re: | | Diane, I was not saying that if you don't read your bible God will not bless. He loves us regardless. He's not some task master standing over us telling us to read so and so amount of chapters OR ELSE! I'm just implying that if you CAN, try to fight through and read SOMETHING. BUT, if you just can't, don't stress about it, just relax and start back WHEN YOU CAN. I've been there on both ends.
J-bird |
| | 2006/7/12 19:54 | | myfirstLove
Member
Joined: 2005/11/26
Posts: 496
| | Re: | | christian, i will pray for you, brother. its so easy to get caught up with our emotions during hard times. in these times, it is so important to seek the Lord more diligently that we may be lead by His Spirit and not our flesh, emotions. draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. He is your strength, your shield, your comfort. His word will cast out doubt, selfishness, and sober our minds from faithless thoughts. we need Him more than ever thru this time or else the enemy can easily sow in doubt, bitterness, frustration, ect... God is faithful, He will giive you the strength to endure!
2 Corinthians 1:9-10
9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does[a] deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us,
God allowed paul to go thru SO much that he may depend only on God and not himself. paul's life makes our life look too easy. paul, a mere man who gone thru more than any of us and left an awesome testimony because he trusted in God and gave His life wholly to God. it is thru these hard times that we should see how utterly lost we are without Him and how much we need to cling to Him even more to go on!
diane, you should read about david brainerd. this man didn't care how sick he was. he was very sick, spittin up blood and freezing in the cold, and still he was hungry to seek the Lord more diligently and to do His will!
much love,
lisa
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Lisa
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| | 2006/7/12 23:37 | Profile | hmmhmm
Member
Joined: 2006/1/31
Posts: 4994
Sweden
| | Re: | | well i can read my bible... and i do..its just i dont get into it.... my mind wanders... im so tired i cant focus on the word... same whit prayer... and every little problem , that last week wasent a problem now seem so great so big, and then you see or read some newspaper or listen to some sermon , and see some people whit real problems, being persecuted and so on... then i feel guilty becuse my problems are quite minor compared to others.
But to be honest im so broken, im so burned out, i feel like im 80 years old... and im 27...i know the life i lived before maybe is catching up whit me...
i do trust in god to deliver me, i look unto him, i look to the heavens, to jesus.
but maybe i have to learn how to glory in small"tribulations" before the big ones... the school of jesus christ
well i really dont know anything, i just know jesus is the awnser to everything.
gods peace to you all
christian
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CHRISTIAN
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| | 2006/7/13 9:28 | Profile | roadsign
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Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777
| | Re: Rest from our efforts | | Quote:
you should read about david brainerd. this man didn't care how sick he was. he was very sick, spittin up blood and freezing in the cold, and still he was hungry to seek the Lord more diligently and to do His will!
To J-Bird and Lisa,
You have both exposed some important points that I do not wish to pass over, although my comments may not merely be directed to your posts per se, nor may they be applicable to Christian at this time.
Of course encouraging one to persevere, in itself, is not wrong. We have many examples of those who persevered against all odds - like Hudson Taylor, Praying Hyde, the apostle Paul.. etc. Sadly there are many in our churches who know nothing about perseverance. They desperately need some dynamite placed under them to get them to dust off their Bibles, read for themselves, and learn to think.
But there are also those who do read the Bible faithfully, and they dont need to be told to read more especially if they already feel guilty for not reading enough.
Bible reading and prayer, though important disciplines, are not in themselves the virtues God seeks. In fact, they can become false dependencies. We trust in our efforts or our fleshly strength. We become dependent on them (ie, our efforts to maintain them) more than on God himself. Like any of our misplaced trusts, God may uproot them at some point in our lives, and pave the way for something better himself. Then our disciplines take on a new life. Heres an example:
Recently a Christian friend told me that her eyes have gone bad, and now she couldnt read. She has always been an avid reader and student of scripture. I expressed my concern about this loss, and she responded, I am learning to enjoy the Lord, without reading anything.
Of course, as is my nature, I was tempted to offer some CDs of SI sermons, which would have been just her cup of tea. However, the Spirit put a check on me, and I realized that it would have been sacrilegious to trample into that holy space God had created in her life that was for him alone. This hard-working Christian lady needed to learn to persevere in REST: Make every EFFORT to enter his REST This is a very different kind of effort than fleshly effort. It is a surrendering of the old way and a grasping of the New Way - of the Spirit.
Indeed, Gods Word is our lifeline to the Father, but his word can come to us in ways other than reading the Bible and ritual prayer. For example, the Spirit can speak a verse or thought directly to our mind at any time of the day or night. And he can help us understand it. I know that from countless such experiences. God has even given me verses that I didnt memorize, or he has given me specific references to look up.
So, while we encourage each other to trust God, we must always respect that Gods methods of developing deeper trust may be vary. What seem logical to us may not be Gods best way for another or even for ourselves.
Now, does that make any sense?
Diane
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Diane
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| | 2006/7/13 9:31 | Profile |
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